Harry Waters Jr., aka Marvin Berry joins Tavis Smiley
Harry Waters Jr., known for playing Marvin Berry, celebrates the 100th birthday of his fictional cousin Chuck and previews Back to the Future Day next week.
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Speaker 1: Oh, we thank Taylor Hackford for those reflections on Chuck Berry.
And what a great conversation with Taylor, looking back at
his amazing film, Hail, Hail, Rock and Roll. Love me
some Taylor Hackford. Please welcome now for a brief conversation,
Harry Waters Jr., a.k.a. Marvin Berry, to get his reflections
on his cousin Chuck on his centennial birthday. Marvin, good
to have you on.
Speaker 2: How are you, sir? What's up, everybody there in Leimert Park? Greetings, greetings, greetings.
It's the 100th. 100th birthday. Yes, indeed.
Speaker 1: How are you processing that? You know how I process it?
Speaker 2: I just give thanks every day that I get to
be recognized as the possible mythical cousin of Chuck Berry
around the world. Everybody knows that song, Johnny B. Goode.
because it just happened to be in the movie. And
by the way, those of y'all who got issues with, like,
the white boy taking the song, it's a movie, folks. Okay? Chill.
It was a movie. However, being Marvin Barry, I just
came back literally from Liverpool and the UK, where people
were almost in tears telling me because they saw this movie.
That's why they learned to play the guitar because of
that song. So Marvin Barry still has an effect even
for people wanting to be musicians. It's amazing to be
a part of that legacy, I say.
Speaker 1: Tell me more about the impact of that song. We've
been playing the best of Chuck Berry all three hours today.
Of course, we played Johnny B.
Speaker 2: Goode.
Speaker 1: Just tell me the impact of that one track.
Speaker 2: That one track Well, first, I'll tell you two quick things. One,
they almost didn't get the rights because Chuck was waiting
for them to meet his money balance. Yep. Literally on
the set going, he hasn't said yes yet. He hasn't
said yes. I don't know what the balance was, but
he finally said yes. And that was, I think, Taylor
was mentioning how he was, there was no nonsense about
his money.
Speaker 1: Oh, yeah.
Speaker 2: He made sure that he got that. But the other
thing that happens to me always is how... around the world,
people will dance to that song like they've never danced before.
So it goes somewhere deeper in that weird way that
a lot of music does. If you're considering a song
that was written that long ago that still works so
immediately on people's bodies, that's like a visceral reaction. I
really love it.
Speaker 1: It is indeed. He is Harry Waters Jr., a.k.a. Marvin Barry.
More with him when we come forward celebrating this centennial.
of Chuck Berry's birth on Tavis Smiley. We were talking St.
Speaker 2: Louis.
Speaker 1: There you go, St.
Speaker 2: Louis.
Speaker 1: That's where he's from, St.
Speaker 2: Louis.
Speaker 1: Chuck Berry celebrating his centennial today. We were talking to
Taylor Hackford earlier about what a lyricist, what a lyrical
genius Chuck Berry was. Again, we are celebrating the 100th
anniversary of his birth today. We're joined now for just
a few more minutes by Harry Waters Jr., a.k.a. Marvin Berry,
the cousin of Chuck. Marvin, just enough time to ask you,
as we're celebrating his 100th birthday today, about this big event,
Back to the Future Day, honoring Chuck Berry next week.
Tell me about it right quick.
Speaker 2: Chuck, Back to the Future Day, Obama and the British
Prime Minister proclaimed it about seven years ago, Back to
the Future Day, October 21st, because that's when Marty went
back to the future. And I would say last year
when the Back to the Future musical was there in
Los Angeles, I got to perform and meet the cast,
also on Broadway. But Back to the Future Day is
one of those things that is multiracial, multigenerational, and actually
everybody is so friggin' happy to be around there. And
that one song of Johnny B. Goode is one of
the things that links the whole movie together. It wraps
it back around. So it's very interesting because at the
beginning of the movie, Marty's a musician. Huey Lewis tells him,
stop that noise. Comes back around that noise. Once again,
it's music of the people. Yep. I always say the
story of that movie in the 80s, it always seems
to celebrate the power of music, and most of that
music came from black musicians, and let's just call it truth.
Speaker 1: You just did, and so did Taylor Hackford, for that matter.
There is no rock and roll, if not for Chuck Berry,
and we are celebrating again the centennial of his birth.
I was saying earlier in today's program, all the greats
who we have celebrated today, Centennial NATO Days for in
the last year, Miles Davis, John Coltrane, and today is
Chuck Berry. And so we are delighted to have had
Taylor Hackford on this program and Harry Waters Jr., a.k.a.
Marvin Berry. Pleased to have had him on the program
as well. Marvin, thanks for your insights, man, and your
reflections on Chuck Berry. Good to have you on, man.
Speaker 2: Thank you so much. Just to let you know, you're
all earth angels, earth angels. Will you be mine?
Speaker 1: That's why we love Marvin Berry. When we come forward
in our third hour, we'll start with the guy who
could be likely the next governor of California. Javier Becerra
comes live in studio on Tavis Smiley.